Distant Origin
- Episode aired Apr 30, 1997
- TV-PG
- 46m
IMDb RATING
8.5/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
A superior race, descended from Earth dinosaurs, discovers Voyager, but living proof of the controversial Distant Origin Theory goes against widespread doctrine.A superior race, descended from Earth dinosaurs, discovers Voyager, but living proof of the controversial Distant Origin Theory goes against widespread doctrine.A superior race, descended from Earth dinosaurs, discovers Voyager, but living proof of the controversial Distant Origin Theory goes against widespread doctrine.
Roxann Dawson
- Lt. B'Elanna Torres
- (as Roxann Biggs-Dawson)
Steve Carnahan
- Operations Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Tracee Cocco
- Nekrit Alien
- (uncredited)
Damaris Cordelia
- Security Guard
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode is unusual in that it is told from the viewpoint of a guest character rather than one of the Voyager crew (who don't even appear until well into the second act).
- GoofsIt is stated that there are 148 lifeforms on board Voyager (plus the Doctor); however, Janeway states in The 37's (1995) that there are 152 people on board, and 11 members of the crew have died since. Even allowing for the birth of Naomi Wildman, that leaves half a dozen crew members who seem to have come back to life.
- ConnectionsReferences China Beach (1988)
Featured review
Dinosaurs in space
Well, this episode at its core is well written. It is about how truths can shake a civilization, its beliefs and foundations. Naturally, there are always some that fight against change in the hopes to protect their societies. It is like with Galileo and the church, Darwin's evolution theory or the the way lots of Americans deal with creationism.
What I dislike about this episode is the more than questionable attempt to make a highly evolved species on earth, that existed before homo sapiens, sound plausbible. A species that evolved into a space travelling civilization cannot just exist on a small continent on a planet that might be buried under water today. The ressources you need to become so highly evolved would change a planet forever - see how we changed earth by burning fossil fuels to reach the state of technology we have today. Travelling to space would for example need satellites at one point in space - you don't leap frog to warp engines without first building plain old rockets. Those don't just vanish. Mining minerals would also leave behind signs that could be found today and since not all ressources are located in one geolocical spot, you would find those traces all over the world. Also, you would find residues in the arctic ice for example of polution, micro plastics etc. While there could be an evolved species on earth before us, it would basically have to lived purely in harmony with nature without artifical materials or anything that would outlast millenia.
And yet again we have a species that is ruled by this one person that decides over the fate everyone by himself. A highly evolved species would most likely have way over 10 billion individuals. And the more planets they would colonize, the more of them there would be. A powerful space travelling species would surely have 20-30 billion individuals at least, if they lived for thousands of years even more. And there should be this one person to rule them all??? Ridiculous. Just look how fragmented earth is. The beliefs of one nation or religion doesn't bother another nation or religion at all.
What I dislike about this episode is the more than questionable attempt to make a highly evolved species on earth, that existed before homo sapiens, sound plausbible. A species that evolved into a space travelling civilization cannot just exist on a small continent on a planet that might be buried under water today. The ressources you need to become so highly evolved would change a planet forever - see how we changed earth by burning fossil fuels to reach the state of technology we have today. Travelling to space would for example need satellites at one point in space - you don't leap frog to warp engines without first building plain old rockets. Those don't just vanish. Mining minerals would also leave behind signs that could be found today and since not all ressources are located in one geolocical spot, you would find those traces all over the world. Also, you would find residues in the arctic ice for example of polution, micro plastics etc. While there could be an evolved species on earth before us, it would basically have to lived purely in harmony with nature without artifical materials or anything that would outlast millenia.
And yet again we have a species that is ruled by this one person that decides over the fate everyone by himself. A highly evolved species would most likely have way over 10 billion individuals. And the more planets they would colonize, the more of them there would be. A powerful space travelling species would surely have 20-30 billion individuals at least, if they lived for thousands of years even more. And there should be this one person to rule them all??? Ridiculous. Just look how fragmented earth is. The beliefs of one nation or religion doesn't bother another nation or religion at all.
helpful•02
- tomsly-40015
- Dec 23, 2023
Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3
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